"...and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God."- 1 Cor. 2:4-5

Table Charismata Matters

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

A Reformation Discussion of Extraordinary Predictive Prophecy Subsequent to the Closing of the Canon of Scripture by the Session of the PRCE

The following is a link to a Presbyterian document that argues that it is in keeping with historic Presbyterianism to admit that there are special cases in which "prophecy" (in some qualified sense) can and does sometimes function in the church after the closing of the Canon of Scripture.

Moreover, notice
Gillespie's reluctance to say that the extraordinary
foretelling of the future has ceased with the closing of
the canon:

...for I dare not
say that since the days of the apostles there has
never been, or that to the end of the world there shall
never be, any raised up by God with such gifts, and for
such administrations, as I have now described to be
proper to prophets and evangelists, i.e., the
foretelling of things to come... (George Gillespie, Miscellany
Questions , Chapter 5, section 7, p. 30).

Though Gillespie will
"dare not say" that the extraordinary gift of prophecy has
ceased with the closing of the canon of Scripture, notice
what he believes that he "must say":

I must say it, to the
glory of God, there were in the church of Scotland, both
in the time of our first reformation, and after the
reformation, such extraordinary men as were more than
ordinary pastors and teachers, even holy prophets
receiving extraordinary revelations from God, and
foretelling diverse strange and remarkable things,
which did accordingly come to pass punctually, to the
great admiration of all who knew the particulars. Such
were Mr. Wishart the martyr, Mr. Knox the reformer,
also Mr. John Welsh, Mr. John Davidson, Mr. Robert
Bruce, Mr. Alexander Simpson, Mr. Fergusson, and
others. It were too long to make a narrative here
of all such particulars, and there are so many of them
stupendous, that to give instance in some few, might
seem to derogate from the rest, but if God give me
opportunity, I shall think it worth the while to make a
collection of these things (George Gillespie, Miscellany
Questions , Vol. 2, Chapter 5, section 7, p. 30).

3. There is
a 3rd revelation of some particular men, who have
foretold things to come even since the ceasing of
the canon of the word, as John Huss, Wycliffe,
Luther, have foretold things to come, and they certainly
fell out. And in our nation of Scotland, Mr. George
Wishart foretold that Cardinal Beaton should not come
out alive at the gates of the Castle of St. Andrews, but
that he should die a shameful death; and he
[Beaton-PRCE] was hanged over the window that he did
look out at, when he saw the man of God [Wishart-PRCE]
burnt. Mr. Knox prophesied of the hanging of the Lord of
Grange. Mr. John Davidson uttered prophesies, known to
many of the kingdom, diverse holy and mortified
preachers in England have done the like (Samuel
Rutherford, A Survey of Spiritual Antichrist,
London, 1648, p. 42).

Assert. 2. Yet it
is not altogether to be denied, but that the Lord may,
in particulars of the last kind, sometimes, reveal
himself to some, by foretelling events before they
come, such as the famine that Agabus foretold of, or
Paul's imprisonment were; of such the history of the
martyrs and saints do sometimes make mention: and
particularly, Athanasius is often advertised of
hazards, as is recorded, and in the verity cannot be
denied; and of this sort there were many at the
reviving of the light of the gospel who, by
foretelling of particular events, were famous, as John
Huss's foretelling, within a hundred years after him,
to follow the outbreaking of reformation; such, it is
likely, was Hieronymus Savonarola, who was burnt by
the Pope, not as was pretended, for foretelling of
events, as they imputed to him, by unlawful means, but
for faithful reproving of his faults, as he is
described by Philip de Cumius, and other authors: of
such many were in this land, as Messrs. Wishart, Knox,
Welch, Davidson, etc.. And this cannot be said
altogether to be made void: for, although God has now
closed the canon of scripture, yet that he should be
restrained in his freedom, from manifesting of himself
thus, there is no convincing ground to bear it out,
especially when experience has often proven the
contrary in the most holy men. (James
Durham, Commentary upon the Book of Revelation,
Glasgow, 1788 edition, cited from SWRB bound photocopy,
Vol. 2., pp. 219-224).

Next, Gillespie notes:

... although such
prophets be extraordinary, and but seldom raised up in
the church, yet there have been, I dare say, not only in
primitive times, but amongst our first reformers and
others; and upon what Scripture can we pitch for such
extraordinary prophets, if not upon those scriptures
which are applied by some to the prophesying brethren,
or gifted church members? (George Gillespie, Miscellany
Questions, Vol. 2, Chapter 5, section 7, p. 30).

There is difference
to be put betwixt the simple foretelling of an event,
which may be of God, and a conclusion which may be
drawn therefrom; this may be of ourselves, as we
may see in the predictions of these, Acts 21 [vs.
11-PRCE], who foretold of Paul's imprisonment at
Jerusalem, yet was not that to divert him from his going
there, as many collected; that therefore was not from
God, as Paul's pressure in the spirit to go
notwithstanding, does clear; every such prediction
therefore cannot make be made a rule of duty,
seeing the Lord may have other good ends of trial,
advertisement and confirmation in it. And we will
not find, that any have made use of such particular
revelations, as from them to press a duty upon others,
that would not otherwise be warrantable, although,
when it concurs with other grounds, it may have its
weight for swaying in lawful things (James Durham,
Commentary upon the Book of Revelation, Glasgow,
1788 edition, cited from SWRB bound photocopy, Vol. 2,
p. 222).

Wayne Grudem once surveyed the historical
evidence for the apparent operation of the gifts of the Spirit among Reformed, Reformational, and Puritan
ministers. He wrote in his book The Gift of Prophecy in the New Testament and Today (Revised Edition):

I may
add a personal note at this point: When I first found this material in
Baxter, I photocopied these two pages and sent them to J. I. Packer,
whose doctoral dissertation at Oxford was on Baxter's work. Packer sent
back the following note:By the way, some weeks ago you faxed me an extract from Baxter about God making personal informative revelations. This was the standard Puritan view, as I have observed it—they weren't cessationists in the Richard Gaffin sense.15 [bold added by me]- This quote can be read directly from HERE.

That statement came from J.I. Packer who is well known for being well versed in the writings of the Puritans.